Dream Home

One of the Malawian’s we’ve been sent here to love is John.  John came into our lives almost a year ago when our gardener left and we needed to find a replacement.  I had seen John working around the grounds of ABC and he was always quick to help when he saw the need and he was incredibly diligent in everything he did.  We hired him to become our gardener (which is a real promotion in pay and an opening for further advancement) and he has been a great blessing to our family ever since.  He is great with our kids, incredibly gracious, and one of the hardest workers I’ve met.  He’s never late and I've noticed that he never even takes a break one minute longer than he’s supposed to.  

John is married with 2 children and a third child he is raising for his deceased brother and sister-in-law.  This is a practice that is quite common throughout this part of the world.  He lives in a rented 2 room mud house with a grass roof in a crowded part of a nearby village.  The dimensions of his house are approximately 15 feet by 20 feet.  

Last January, we felt compelled to use some of our support to help John out.  We gave him a “loan” of 100,000 Kwacha (about $450) to buy a piece of land and agreed together with him to deduct a small portion each month from his salary as a “payback”.  Our intention has been to help John learn the practice of working toward a financial goal and meeting it.  In reality we are subtracting a great deal of the loan amount in order to move forward with a new “loan” to help him start  building.  

bricks under construction

John holding a brick

Sometime this past May, John started taking his 2 days off every week and many of his evenings in order to start building his own mud bricks.  The process is simple: get a small wooden box; fill it with mud; pack it down; tip it over to let the square block out; then leave it in the sun to bake for 3 days.  Once you create a pile of about 3000 of these – hire a builder who knows just how to stack them (with mud mortar) and start creating your house (while you continue to make more bricks).  

I went to visit John’s house project in early August and the 4 walls had been started.  The house includes a sitting room and 3 bedrooms.  The back bedrooms were so narrow that if you stuck out your elbows you could touch both walls.  I inquired about this and John said the dimensions of the house are exactly what he could afford.  Fighting my cultural baggage, I gently pleaded with John to increase the dimensions of his bedrooms and create a front porch sitting area too and told him we’d cover the cost.  In all we’re probably talking about another $50 total!  He was beaming from ear to ear to show me his house and I’ve been blessed to go back and help him continue the work. 

John's house framed in with more bricks ready to go

Before rainy season comes (November or December) we hope to get a roof put on the house and help the family move in.  What a gift from God to be able to help John take such a huge step forward for his family.  Thanks to all of you who, through your partnership with us, have your names written invisibly on many of his bricks.